Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James 1:27(NKJV)

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Lazereni with Hope 4 Kids International

Yesterday I was surfing the internet and decided I should check out H4KI's website to see when Tom Eggum and his team would be arriving. As some of you may remember, I served alongside H4KI when I lived here 2002-2004 and have also helped Tom with short term teams the summers of 2005 and 2006. As I entered the site, I noticed a "blog update" and realized they were already here! So after heading on over to the hotel where Tom usually stays and leaving him a message, I heard back from him a few hours later and agreed to meet up with the team today. There are about 10 team members from all over the U.S., ranging from a 14 year old to a few retirees. After an awesome "family devotion" time, we headed out to Lazereni, one of the gypsy villages that H4KI helps to support. Some of the team finished painting the school buildings, while others of us did a VBS-type outreach with the children. We also did a craft: decorating t-shirts with markers. The kids had a blast! The markers had many other uses, such as for painting nails and applying "marker lipstick". We also were able to feed the kids lunch. It was precious to watch them as they said a simple prayer of gratitude in unison.

Because there were no translators assigned for the team today, I ended up translating (or at least giving good effort). Well at least the kids seemed to understand me... Two of the 2006 team members came again this year, Dwayne and Ramona (Tom' s sister), so it was good to see some familiar faces. I also had a great time getting to know Angie and Elizabeth, 2 of H4KI's staff, as well as Patrick, a PT/retired professor from NAU, and Sandra, a retired nurse from Florida. To learn more about H4KI's work in Romania (as well as other countries), check out their website: http://www.hope4kidsinternational.org/